


The Course of True Love

by pookiestheone



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: M/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 12:49:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1858638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pookiestheone/pseuds/pookiestheone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Week 3 of Flippyspoon's playing card challenge on Tumblr. The cards I drew are at the end.</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Course of True Love

**Author's Note:**

> Week 3 of Flippyspoon's playing card challenge on Tumblr. The cards I drew are at the end.

Jimmy noticed that Mrs. Patmore seemed to hover in the background whenever he and Thomas were in the servants' hall, not all the time, but often enough that he began to feel uncomfortable.  Once he caught her looking at them and shaking her head.  _What the hell is she thinking?_

One night he stayed downstairs longer than anyone else.  Thomas and he were always the last to go up, or so he thought, but that night Thomas was tired and had left after just one hand of cards.  Jimmy had his chair tilted back, attempting to blow smoke rings above his head, when a voice almost made him fall over.

 "Would you care for tea and some of my biscuits?  Freshly made, mind you,"  Beryl Patmore asked, balancing two cups and a plate of biscuits in one hand and carrying a tea pot in the other.

 "What the ...?"  Jimmy choked on the smoke and coughed.  "You scared the devil out of me Mrs. Patmore."

"Oh, Jimmy, I don't think anyone could do that," she replied with a smile and a wink.  "We both know a certain devil has a firm grip on you."

"I ..  I don't know what you mean," Jimmy fumbled, but his reddening cheeks betrayed him.

Beryl set everything down on the table.  "Shall I be mother?"

"Uh, yes."  Jimmy watched her carefully as she poured the tea, then slid the cup and biscuits across the table to him.  He took a sip, followed by a large bite of one of the biscuits.  "Hmm, good."

"Did you expect they wouldn't be?"

"No, Mrs. Patmore, of course not."  He stuffed the rest of the biscuit into his mouth as he reached for another.  Suddenly he blurted out, "Why have you been watching me?"  _Us_.

"I wondered when you would notice that," Beryl chuckled as she pushed a stray hair back behind her ear.  "Do you believe in fairies?"

"What?  You mean those things that dance at the bottom of the garden?"

This time Beryl laughed out loud.  "Well, not really.  That's just how we like people to think of us."

Jimmy was feeling a bit lightheaded, but he was sure she had said "we".

"Have you read any Shakespeare, Jimmy?"  Beryl asked, throwing him into more confusion.

"Uh ... no."

"That's unfortunate because we're more like that.  Some of us, like the sprites, like to play pranks.  And I suppose you could say some of us are evil, but many more of us are good.  We're much like humans that way."

Jimmy reached hesitatingly for another biscuit.  _She said "we", she definitely said "we"_.  "You've outdone yourself with these, Mrs. Patmore."

"Well, they're special I don't make them for everyone.  Have a couple this time."

"I think I will, thank you."  Jimmy almost swallowed the next one whole.  "Now, what were you saying?  Oh yes, fairies." For some reason the fact that he was having this conversation didn't bother him.  It seemed the most logical thing in the world as he connected the dots.  "So, you're a fairy then."

"Yes."

Jimmy looked at her closely.  _Dancing at the bottom of the garden?  Not bloody likely._ "If you're a fairy, why work here?  Is that what you all do?  Work in service?"  Jimmy's head had settled, but now he was feeling warm.

"No, we have all kinds of jobs.  My family have always been cooks going back to King Arthur and beyond, so here I am."

Jimmy washed down the biscuit with his tea, but as he reached for the last Beryl stopped him.

"Save that one for Thomas," Beryl said, fixing him with her gaze.

"Why, is he coming down?"

"No, you're going to take it to him."

"I think I'll take this one to Thomas."

"That's such a lovely idea, Jimmy.  I'm sure he'll enjoy it."

"He'll enjoy it, don't you think Mrs. Patmore."

"Most definitely."

Jimmy reached for the plate and stood up,  He started away from the table, but turned.  "A fairy.  So what type are you then?  Good?  Evil?"

"Oh, I'm a good one.  I help people find love.  I take care of the ones who are so lost that they can't see what they need the most.  I just pull the veil from their eyes for a short time, then they do the rest themselves."

Jimmy stood for a moment.  "But why are you telling me this?  I mean what if I tell someone."  For some reason the idea of telling someone made as much sense as anything else.

"Oh, I'm not worried.  You won't remember this tomorrow."  She winked at him.  "Besides you'll be much too busy with something more important."  Jimmy's forehead scrunched again in confusion.  "Good night, Jimmy, you should take that to Thomas."

"Good night Mrs. Patmore.  I'm going to take this up to Thomas now."

As Jimmy climbed the stairs the warmth that had invaded his body made him want to rip off his clothes.  The pressure against his cock was almost unbearable. By the time he reached Thomas's door he had pulled off his jacket and unloosened his tie; he went in without knocking.

"Thomas!"  His voice was quiet but insistent as he crossed the room and shook him awake.

"Jimmy, what the hell are you doing here?"  Thomas sat up wiping at the sleep in his eyes.

"Shut up and eat this."  Jimmy shoved  the biscuit into his open mouth.

"What ...?  Thomas spluttered crumbs into the air as he grabbed at the lamp to turn it on.

Jimmy placed his hands on either side of Thomas's face. "Please."

Thomas pushed his hands away.  "Jesus, it's a biscuit.  I don't want a biscuit at this time of night."

In frustration, Jimmy grabbed his face again, then sank his tongue deep into his mouth as their lips met.

Thomas pushed him away once more.  "Jimmy, I ... I don't understand."

Jimmy stood up and began stripping out of the rest of his clothes.  "But I do.  For the first time I understand."

Thomas's breath hitched when the light from the lamp caught his body.  His mind flashed back to what he thought that first day he saw Jimmy standing with his shirt open.  _He's bloody beautiful_.

Jimmy walked to the bed and stood tentatively at the edge.  It suddenly felt like he had lost his nerve. _What if he doesn't want me?_ "Can I get in?"

Thomas pulled back the sheet and held out his hand; Jimmy took it, sliding in beside him, pressing the lengths of their bodies together.  Their lips met again when Thomas turned him on his back.

As Thomas kissed his way down his chest to his cock, Jimmy knew that they belonged together.  Wherever Thomas was, he would be with him.  Moaning, he arched his back when Thomas teased his foreskin with his tongue.   He only wondered why he had taken so long to realise it.

**Author's Note:**

> I drew:  
> Ace of spades - Supernatural AU or ~~noir AU~~ ; something sex related  
> 8 of clubs - Mrs. Patmore as the third character
> 
> A thank you and a tip of the hat to bedwyrssong on Tumblr for suggesting Mrs. Patmore as the good sex fairy. I think she came out more witch than fairy, though. And I didn't put much sex into it, but I'm sure all of you can extrapolate.
> 
> The title is borrowed, of course, from A Midsummer Night's Dream \- "The course of true love never did run smooth."


End file.
